Pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles are rapidly entering the vehicle transportation marketplace. Discontented with energy prices in general and the damage caused to the environment by conventional combustion chamber vehicle technology, societies around the world are seeking alternatives. These and other factors are transforming the transportation landscape and encouraging the adoption of new and cleaner technologies.
Price efficiencies are playing a role in the adoption of electric vehicles. While battery technologies remain the single largest cost in the production of an electric vehicle, such cost is considerably offset by the price of energy for operating an electric vehicle, which is significantly lower than that of running a conventional gasoline vehicle. For example, in today's prices, to drive an electric vehicle 30 miles costs around $0.60 compared with around $2.00-$3.00 for a gasoline vehicle. Eventually, the cost of batteries will fall because of improved manufacturing efficiencies; as a result, the electric vehicle adoption rate will inevitably increase.
However, one of the challenges with electric vehicle transportation is the ability for electric vehicle users to conveniently recharge their vehicles. Although electric vehicles are four to five times more efficient than gasoline cars, they suffer from a lack of infrastructure that effectively limits how far they can travel. This can discourage the wider public from adopting electric vehicle technologies.
Early adopters of electric vehicles are generally conscious of the environment. They are aware of the severe damage to the planet caused by some types of energy sources. They might seek to reduce their own carbon footprint by closely monitoring energy consumption, particularly as a result of their own transportation needs. An awareness of the various sources of energy and related energy consumption statistics are areas of interest for such owners. For example, electric vehicle owners might be concerned that electricity being used to charge their own electric vehicle originates from a coal-fired power plant rather than a windmill farm. Access to knowledge about the sources and amounts of electricity would be valuable and worthwhile to such vehicle owners, and could lead to improved driving habits.
Some current owners of conventional gasoline powered vehicles might be inclined to change to a more environment-friendly vehicle if the change were incentivized in some manner. Perceptions exist that electric vehicles are inferior, particularly in terms of performance. Access to charging stations is limited. Still others believe that only those who can afford the newer and cleaner technologies can make the change to electric. Such barriers could be removed with a system accessible to all members of society, especially one that encourages efficient and affordable vehicle-recharging access to every-day drivers.
Unfortunately, no such infrastructure is available to vehicle owners today. Greater numbers of charging locations for vehicles to recharge quickly and affordably could mean lower costs by reducing battery payloads, and would broaden the range of travel. Nevertheless, there are challenges related to providing secure, accessible, and affordable, yet profitable, distribution of electricity to electric vehicles. Challenges also remain for monitoring and controlling the distribution of electricity to electric vehicles.
Accordingly, a need remains for a method, system, and apparatus for distributing electricity to electric vehicles, monitoring the distribution thereof, and/or controlling the distribution thereof. Embodiments of the invention address these and other limitations in the prior art.
The foregoing and other features of the invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.